Saturday, November 27, 2010

hey mom and dad
So guess what? i am just about two hours away from bolivia right now. haha i got transfered out of manaus to a city called Porto Velho. it was cool. it's my first time out of manaus. i had to get on a plane and it was about a two hour flight. this city is alot smaller than manaus. it is kind of a weird little city, almost all the roads are dirt roads except the main roads. its funny though cuz there is a mcdonalds in this city but its on a dirt road haha. my area is huge too! it goes clear from the edge of the jungle to almost the middle of the city. it will be cool living next to the jungle. i will be able to go walk through it on p days. today though we went and played football. one of the american missionaries found a place here where they sell footballs, so we all killed some homesickness today haha. i think i am gonna like it here. there are only about 14 missionaries in the whole city. the only thing is that here we get way dirty cuz if it's raining the roads are mud and if not it's dust so it distroys white shirts cuz its that red dirt. but its a lot calmer here and the people are way nice. i have a brazilian companion from são paulo, he is way cool and i have heard a lot of things good about him. so, i'm excited to work with a missionary that's still excited about the mission. the area is a little tough to find people but we are gonna do some work here. i was a little bummed about leaving before christmas cuz my brazilian mom was gonna have us over at her house. she was way sad too. her and her family took us to lunch the day before i left. mabe next time instead of sending me a package you can send one to them. i can tell ya the stuff they like from the u.s. and we can give them a late christmas. they gave me a christmas present before i left too. i am gonna miss them alot cuz i will probably be in this city for a long time. but anyways, sounds like it really was a crazy week last week. i hope aunt bonnie and enid are all right. enid is a way tough lady she has had to deal with a lot lately. she has got a lot of faith and the lord is helpin her through these trials. its crazy to see how much stuff goes on in just two years at home. it definetly gives a different perspective on thing being so far away from you guys. but its half way done now, crazy huh? i'm excited to get to call you guys at christmas! it's been way too long. we will get everything set up here in a few weeks, like time and what not. i got to run but, i love you guys. o and dad there are these little hippey shops here that sell all kinds of crazy stuff they get from the amazon. i'm gonna get you guys some sweet stuff haha. love you guys

Thursday, November 18, 2010

hey mom and dad
another week gone by how crazy! things are a little better this week haha. we haven't had transfers yet, but next week we will have them. but, we got an inside look at the transfers cuz we live with a missionary that worked in staff and it looks like they are gonna close this area cuz there are only two missionarys getting here and 14 leaving. so, the have to shut down 7 areas for a little bit till we get more missionarys here. it is a bummer too cuz we have two families marked to be baptized on the 28 of this month and we will be transfered on the 23. so we are both bummed about that, but the transfers arent finalized yet so things could change or some americans could get their visas before tuesday. there are a bunch waiting there and we are needing them. our mission is four states big and only has 170 missionarys now. i hope we get a bunch here soon cuz there are 20 going home in febuary. but anywho, haha, things are about the same in good old manaus. it was another burner this week. i went to see my brazilian mom today and she was like, wow you are getting a lot darker still, so i may come back looking a little like a mexican or like a little mexican haha. but it was way good seeing them today. you remember when i was telling you we were helping her kids? well i found out today that the oldest girl, jesica, is now the president of the young women and that pedro ,my brother from a brazlian mother, is starting his papers the start of the year. it is so amazing watching the the way the lord works miracles in the lives of people. and that's why we can never lose hope, cuz it just take a little tiny push for people to feel God's love in there life again and want to come back. i learned a really cool thing about hope here on the mission. hope isn't an uncertain thing like we use it in every day talk like, we hope something will happen. but hope is a certainty that something will happen. and that hope is something active and that we always need to be focusing on through our faith. i though it was way cool cuz i never thought of it that way. i am learning a lot here on the mission! i probably should have done some better studying before the mission haha. but i am loving it. but i got to run mom and dad i will talk to you next week and here in a few more weeks will talk to you for real! love you guys

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

hey mom and dad
sorry this email is so late my companion decided we needed to go visit one of the members in an old area and decided to stay there all day!! but i'm here now, a little frustrated, but good haha. you know how i get when i am late for something or needing to do something haha. only another week haha. but anyways, sounds like things are good there besides the whole harry reid deal, thats a bummer. but what can ya do right. so dad got his calling, huh? thats way awesome. he is gonna do really good, and i bet he will like it. o, the time doesn't change here. it's pretty nice. it changes in a bunch of other places in brazil but not in amazonas. it was a burner here this week, i thought i was gonna die friday. it was about 110 and it had rained that morning so i was dripping sweat before i stepped out the front door haha. i thought i got a gnarly farmer tan there, you should see it now adays haha. but i noticed my back is starting to get tan through my shirt haha. so we found two more alligators now. they were all out sun bathing the other day, but once again i didnt have my camera. i think i'm just gonna carry it around one whole week and get them. but the area is getting a little better. we are finding some good people to teach. we are baptizing a family on the 28th of this month. we had another one for the 20 of this month but our members scared her off and told her she had to get maried. so she took off running. we were like NO!!! just has to live the law of chastity. so we have to go try to resolve this thing this week haha. its getting pretty close to christmas. its funny to see christmas stuff here cuz its like christmas in july haha. it is gonna be a wierd christmas, but it is the last one away from home. o, and i think i will call from a members house this time cuz a family here is insisting on us calling from there haha. so if you can try to send me a cheap phone card in a envelope to me. that one that i came with expired cuz i used it in the airport, and it said ninty days after you use it it expires. but other than that i think i am all set for christmas. i am way excited to talk to you guys. all the members are rubbing it in too, haha. they are like, o you guys get to talk to your families here soon haha. but i got to run i love you guys talk to you next week

Wednesday, November 3, 2010


"Holy Soles"

hey mom and dad
sounds like you guys had a good time pickin pine nuts. that was always fun to do. so you guys had elections there too, huh. here it was for president and all. there is now a women president in brazil. it has been the big news here for the week. but its gonna be nice that they are over. they have these cars that drive down the streets with loud speakers blairing the election stuff, so annoying. haha. but its over so, its all good now. so things are pretty good in my area. it is more on the out skirts of manaus. the area could be really good but a missionary messed up here about a year ago so, the members dont trust us. it is gonna be a little tough but i think we will be able to gain their confidence back in us. that means visiting a lot of members and really watching to not catch ourselves in any situation that could even look wrong. because, the members are watching us like hawks haha. this area was closed for a long time but reopened two transfers ago. my companion is pretty cool. he is almost done with his mission though so its teaching me some patience. haha. sometimes its hard keepin him focused. but we are workin and finding some good people to teach. no, i havent seen the alligator again, yet haha. we have this cool member though that has a house in the amazon jungle with cows and stuff, and he brought us missionaries the skin of a boa constricter that he killed there. it is huge!!! its like seven feet long and is so wide! i will send you guys pictures of it one of these days. he killed it cuz it killed one of his calfs and was takin it away haha. we are gonna make scripture covers out of it. he said the next thing he is bringing us is an alligator head haha i'm pretty excited about that. we had a barbeque today. it was pretty good. we had tons of missionaries at our house cuz they brought all the zone and district leaders in from the little cities in the mission to have meetings. so, they stay at houses in the mission. we have four stayin with us till tommorrow. it is pretty fun with them in the house. but, the house is so dirty haha. imagine eight boys living in a house.......cooking. haha. its great. there are only two and a half more weeks in the transfer. its crazy how fast it is going by! i am pretty sure i will stay here but i dont know if my companion will be. i kind of want to get a companion a little younger on the mission that is still excited cuz this area needs it. but it will be good if i stay with my companion one more transfer too. o i took some money out, just to let you know. i had to pay the water bill this month but the mission returns the money, its called something in english, but i can only think of it in portugues. haha. it's where they pay you back. but any ways... i am not sure i need anything for christmas. you can just send what ever you want. o i know, some deoterant. haha. they only have roll on stuff here and it doesnt do the trick in 100 percent humitity haha. i'm sending you some pictures of my shoes and one of the baptism we just had of natasha. the other one is of our barbaque last week. mabe in a few weeks i will get you some sweet jungle pics haha. but i got to run. i love you guys and cant wait to talk to you on christmas. its coming up real fast!